Ingham alleges misquote

Vancouver

Bishop Michael Ingham denies he told a U.S. journalist that “liberalism in the Anglican Communion is dead.”

The quote appears in a soon-to-be released book which describes the Lambeth Conference. It is written by James Solheim, director of Episcopal News Service for the U.S. Episcopal Church.

“‘dead’ is not accurate. What I said was – and I was standing in a corridor in New York – that a vital dimension of Anglicanism at the Lambeth Conference died. The Lambeth Conference rejected the liberal tradition within Anglicanism,” Bishop Ingham said. “I don’t think it died within Anglicanism – it certainly had a rough time at the Lambeth Conference. Lambeth is not the whole of Anglicanism. What I was trying to get at was that the fullness of the Anglican tradition was not heard at Lambeth.”

Mr. Solheim stands by his notes. He said he repeated the bishop’s quotes back to him, partly because he was incredulous at what Bishop Ingham was saying.

In the more recent interview, Bishop Ingham said the Lambeth ruling on homosexuality is being taken seriously in Canada and the U.S. but “it is not a binding statement. Lambeth has no legislative authority – and moral authority, at the end of the day, is what the faithful of the church is prepared to give it. We will see whether the Lambeth position in fact reflects the moral convictions of the Anglican Church, particularly in the Western world. Over the next few years, I doubt that it will.”

Ferdy Baglo is a freelance religion journalist living in Vancouver.